a little hasty just now, when he has so much on his
hands. He lacks a proper sense of moderation--but he will learn it, sure
enough.

Gertrud (almost inaudibly). But what does it mean? Is he never coming
back?

Evje. Never coming back? What an extraordinary question! Of course he
will come back. He was only a little over-hasty, you know--

Gertrud. And said he would never come back?

Mrs. Evje. Come, come, my dear--you mustn't be alarmed.

Evje. He talked such a lot, you know, that we must not attach any
particular importance to anything he said.

Gertrud. So that is how it is!

Mrs. Evje. We must make allowances for all that he is going through just
now--

Evje (suddenly). My child, you look so pale--

Mrs. Evje (going to her). Gertrud!

Gertrud (with a quiet movement of protest). I must give grandfather his
drink; that was really what I came for. And that was how I happened to
see Harald through the window. I will take grandfather his drink. (The
curtain falls as she goes out of the room.)

ACT II

(SCENE.--A street in the "villa quarter" of the town. Between it and
another street running parallel with it in the background, are two
houses standing in gardens, half of the facade of one of them projecting
into the stage on the right. On the left a third street runs at right
angles to the others, to the back of the stage. The left side of this
third street opens onto a well-wooded park. The house in the foreground
on the right is in two stories. There is a narrow strip of garden in
front of it, enclosed by an iron railing with a gate in it. The gate is
standing open. The entrance door to the house is immediately behind this
gate. There is light in a small window by the door; the ground floor
windows are in darkness; in those of the upper floor, light is visible
through heavy curtains. It is a wintry evening, and everything is
swathed in an unusually thick fog, in which the gas lamps in the streets
show dimmer and dimmer as they recede in the distance. As the curtain
goes up, a lamplighter is seen descending his ladder from a lamp-post,
where he has just lit the lamp at the corner of the house.)

The Lamplighter (as he reaches the ground). It's all one whether the
lamps are lit or not, in such a fog as this. (MRS. EVJE is seen drawing
back the curtain at a window on the first floor. She opens the window
and looks out.)

Mrs. Evje. The fog is so thick, my dear, that I can't see across the
street.